Hunting PLC (LON: HTG) have said that they expect annual profits to remain within their current market expectations, but are dependent on results in December.

Hunting manufacture premium, high end downhole metal tools and components required to extract hydrocarbons across the well construction, completion and intervention stages of the well’s lifecycle.

Shares in Hunting were bruised on Tuesday morning after the announcement, and trade at 383p (-6.19%). 17/12/19 11:47BST.

Hunting saw their shares in red a the end of October, as the firm speculated on lower profits following a US drilling slowdown.

The FTSE 250 listed energy company said that its third-quarter underlying profits had dropped below the $35 million and $42.4 million it had boasted in the first and second quarters respectively.

Again the firm today has seen its shares in red, as the firm hedged its bet on a solid December performance to allow it to meet guidance.

Hunting said, as anticipated, activity levels within the North American oil and gas industry continues to slow, with the pace of decline increasing in the US onshore market.

Further, the oil and gas contractor said “exhaustion” within its client base together with seasonal declines are hurting its fourth quarter results and “certain clients have closed facilities serving the US onshore sector due to the slowing market”.

Hunting added that operating profit and revenue in both October and November were below the average rate for the third quarter of the financial year due to the “slowing and highly competitive” US onshore market.

Hunting however did reassure shareholders saying that it continued to trade well and remained cash generative.

It expects to have around $110 million of cash at the end of the year, with $45 million of lease liabilities – resulting in a $65 million net cash position.

Hunting allude to the offshore and international oil market facing a slowdown, however there was a return to growth as Hunting Electronics business reported firm results.

Looking ahead to 2020, the company said: “At this time early announcements from Hunting’s publicly quoted clients indicate that capital spend in the year ahead will be lower than 2019, as the oil and gas industry endeavours to improve returns and increase cash generation for investors.”

In similar fashion to Hunting, fellow American operator Active Energy have seen their operations have stops and starts over the last week.

The firm said that it had begun it commercial production in Lumberton, North Carolina after the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources is continuing to review its application to operate.

Trainline PLC (LON: TRN) have given shareholders a positive update saying that they are keeping their annual guidance.

Trainline saw their shares dip at the start of December, as Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party announced travel policies to rival Trainline.

The Daily Mail reported that the Labour government would would create a ‘one-stop shop’ for rail passengers to buy tickets online without booking fees, the Mail reported without citing its sources.

This came as part of Labour’s business and travel policy where it was also mentioned that it had intentions to nationalize BT (LON: BT.A) in an attempt to win voters.

However, looking back now knowing the election result it seemed that neither of these policies won voters.

Today, Trainline reiterated their annual guidance as the firm continued to deliver strong growth in ticket sales and revenue.

Within the nine months to November 30, Trainline’s climbed 26% to £198 million, with UK revenue up 22% to £178 million and International rising 90% to £20 million.

Revenue from the UK consumer segment climbed 31% to £133 million, though Trainline for Business revenue in the UK was flat at £45 million.

Trainline did note there was a slowdown in the third quarter of its year as large corporations cut discretionary travel spending.

Trainline offers a rail and coach ticket purchase platform saw net ticket sales of £2.86 billion within the none months, seeing an 18% climb year on year.

In the UK, net ticket sales were up 14% to £2.47 billion, with International climbing 49% to £390 million.

UK consumer net ticket sales rose 24% to £1.54 billion, with business sales rising 2% to £930 million.

Trainline praised the development of online ticket sale growth driven by demand from mobile users, as customer shift from paper to e-tickets.

Chief Executive Clare Gilmartin said: “We continued to deliver strong growth in the third quarter of the financial year while we focus on our mission to make rail and coach travel easier for customers worldwide, encouraging a much greener way to travel.

“We are on track to deliver our plans for the full year and will continue to invest both in the UK and internationally to deliver the significant growth opportunities for Trainline in the year ahead.”

Trainline remained optimistic for its guidance encompassing its financial year, which ends in February.

Trainline are now performing well in a market which is appearing to be in a period of tough market trading, as evidenced by rival FirstGroup who saw their shares in red as the firm considered selling their North American operations yesterday.

Bunzl plc (LON: BNZL) have said to firms that they have remained optimistic to meet expected revenue growth in a tough market.

Despite the optimism, it seems that shares in Bunzl have remained in red on Tuesday.

Bunzl shares trade at 2,085p (-0.71%). 17/12/19 11:12BST.

Bunzl is one of the biggest British outsourcing companies, having specialist international distribution services all across the world. The firm is a main stay on the FTSE 100.

Bunzl yesterday had seen their shares in green, as the firm seemed to benefit over the Boris Bounce.

Bunzl saw their shares rise the third largest in the FTSE100, just behind Glencore (LON: GLEN) and British American Tobacco (LON: BATS) however all three of these firms saw their shares boosted by over four per cent.

It seems that the election bounce has now ended for Bunzl, as the firm said that it was on track to meet revenue growth figures however weak economic conditions were weighing down on trading.

Bunzl expects revenue for 2019 to rise by 2% with revenue at constant rates rising by 1%. Underlying revenue, London-based Bunzl noted, is set to be flat on 2018.

The firm saw a dip in its underlying revenue back in October, within its third quarter update and the firm alluded to economic conditions being a constraint on trading globally.

Shareholders will remain optimistic however, as the firm did announce the acquisition of Fire Rescue Safety Australia, which distributes specialist fire safety and personal protection equipment.

Chief Executive Frank van Zanten commented: “FRSA has a market-leading position in the provision of emergency response solutions in Australia and further expands and develops the scope of our operations there. We are delighted to welcome their employees to the group.”

“The group’s expectations for the year 2019 remain unchanged with overall trading consistent with the slowing underlying revenue growth indicated in previous announcements this year due to the impact of the continued mixed macroeconomic and market conditions across the countries and sectors in which the Group operates,” said Bunzl.

In the tough operating market, it does seem that Bunzl are doing well and having had a track record of fighting market slumps, shareholders can remain positive for future outlook.

Unilever (LON: ULVR) have seen their shares in red, as it gave shareholders a gloomy outlook for their annual results.

Unilever have seen a turbulent time of trading in 2019. In October, the firm saw its growth slump in both India and China, which alerted shareholders.

Unilever revealed an underlying sales growth of 2.9%, with 1.4% from volume and 1.5% from price. Meanwhile, turnover grew by 5.8% driven by sales growth.

Just a month on, the firm made a new Chairman appointment in Nils Andersen.

Andersen was brought into the firm to tackle the slowdown in Indian and Chinese business, having had experience working with AP Moller Maerskv , Carlsberg A/S and as a non executive director at BP.

Unilever today have seen their shares crash, as the firm reported that underlying sales growth will fall short of guidance due to economic slowdown in South Asia and tough trading conditions in West Africa.

The FTSE 100 listed firm initially had expected underlying sales growth in the lower half of its 3% to 5% multi-year range. However, it now expects underlying sales “slightly below” this guidance.

The main reason that Unilever alluded to this change was the challenges in the quarter in some markets”, including continued trouble in west African markets and a slowdown in south Asia, one of Unilever’s biggest markets.

Chief Executive Alan Jope said: “Due to challenges in certain markets, we expect a slight miss to our full year underlying sales growth delivery.

“Looking ahead to 2020, growth will be second-half weighted. While we expect improvement in H1 2020 versus this quarter, we expect that first half growth will be below 3%. Our full year underlying sales growth is expected to be in the lower half of the multi-year range.

“Growth remains our top priority and we are confident we have the right strategy and investment in place to step up our performance.”

Two of Britains biggest banks in Lloyds (LON:LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LON:RBS) have seen their shares dip after failing the UK’s most rigorous banking test.

Both the British banks had seen their shares in green since Friday, as the firms continued to ride a wave of optimism following PM Johnsons election win dubbed the ‘Boris Bounce’ by analysts.

However, today the picture is slightly more worrying for both of the British banks.

Both banks passed the Bank of Englands annual assessment in the balance sheet department.

However, plans to double a 100 basis point capital buffer designed to protect lenders in depressed economic conditions could put both bank’s 2020 share buyback plans in jeopardy, analysts said.

“Given we have not seen an acceleration in credit growth, we conclude this is being put in place to be, for lack of a better word, a “Brexit buffer” as the Bank of England has now determined that a 2% buffer is more appropriate in a “standardised risk environment,” Jefferies analyst Joseph Dickerson said.

The increase in the countercyclical buffer is seen likely to lead to a reduction in core tier 1 capital requirements by a similar amount, allowing major British lenders to absorb up to 23 billion pounds of losses in a downturn without restricting lending, as Reuters reported.

But near-term goals to deliver more than a billion pounds of shareholder rewards via a buyback bonanza must now be considered “best case”, according to analysts at KBW.

Lloyd’s have already been put into bad media spotlight earlier this year. The firm faced public scrutiny when they received criticism over the treatment of victims within the HBOS fraud scandal.

Certainly, this will do no favor to either firm especially at a time where the global banking industry and firms such as Lloyds and HSBC (LON: HSBA) have seen their profits take a bruising.

Certainly, being a big player in the banking industry does often lead to a lot of media coverage both good and bad, but not passing the Bank of England stress test may alert both senior management and shareholders.

Shares in Barclays dipped 4.29% to 249p. 17/12/19 10:49BST.

Shares in Lloyds fell further by 5.49% to 63p. 17/12/19 10:50BST.

Fulham Shore PLC (LON: FUL) have seen their shares dip despite giving shareholders a sound update on Monday.

Fulham Shore are a group of distinct growth restaurant businesses operating in the UK, each driven by skilled and incentivised restaurant entrepreneurs. The firm boast names such as Franco Manca Pizza and The Real Greek.

Today, the firm has seen its first half revenues rise due to the launch of new restaurants and rising customer numbers.

For the half-year ended September 29, the restaurant operator posted revenue of £36 million, up 9.3% from £33.3 million in the comparative year ago period.

Pretax profit, however, slumped year-on-year to £743,000 form £1.5 million, mainly due to recognition of interest on lease liabilities under new IFRS16 accounting rules.

First half headline earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased 68% year-on-year to £8.4 million.

The performance was boosted by the opening of six new six new Franco Manca pizzerias and one new The Real Greek restaurant. The launch of the Franco Manca loyalty scheme and mobile app was credited for the rise in customer numbers as over 55,000 registered users were recorded at last count.

Chair David Page said: “Looking ahead, the board remains confident that Fulham Shore is well positioned for continued growth and a great future. We look forward to continuing this positive momentum in the period ahead.”

Shares of Fulham Shore dipped 5.55% to 10p on Monday afternoon. 16/12/19 15:56BST.

Certainly, Fulham Shore can be pleased with the update that they have given shareholders today, even though share price movements may have not reflected this.

Rival, FTSE250 listed Restaurant Group (LON: RTN) saw their shares crash despite its lead brand Wagamama reporting a strong performance.

Wagamama reported strong second quarter gains, as revenues rose 11% year-on-year to £93.5 million, with like-for-like revenue growth coming in at 6.3%.

Another name in Loungers PLC (LON: LGRS) saw their shares spike just under two weeks ago, as the firm gave a bullish update to the market.

For the 24 weeks to October 6, Loungers revenue climbed 22% on the year before to £79.8 million, with the pretax loss narrowing to £2.5 million from £4.3 million. On a like-for-like basis, revenue growth was 5.4%, a figure Loungers said was “sector leading”.

Shareholders of Fulham Shore should remain confident on the update provided, however, as big guns such as J D Wetherspoon plc (LON: JDW) continue to report strong trading figures, which will make the market more competitive and saturated.